Archive for June, 2015

In case you’ve not noticed, yes I know this post is a day late. Sorry! Here’s the voucher graphic for the week ahead so you can figure out where to get discount vouchers at a glance. There are some great deals to snag again this week – including a chicken for €3 that’s perfect for the barbecue.
ALDI
Please note the prices below expire on Wednesday 8th July 2015. Continue reading »

Veggie burgers get a bad rap because 9 times out of 10, they are pretty underwhelming. I love a good burger as much as the next guy but every now and again I like to mix things up and these healthy chickpea burgers are my go to recipe when it comes to meat-free burgers.

If you like falafels you’ll love these tasty chickpea burgers as I use a lot of the same spices. They are gently spiced with a bit of a kick, cooled down with the earthy beetroot puree. Continue reading »

These mini banana bread loaves are deliciously moist and are extremely easy to throw together. I’ve added some chocolate chips to this recipe but you could use some toasted chopped nuts instead if you prefer. This recipe will also fill a 900ml loaf tin and will take about 50 minutes to cook in the oven. Continue reading »

This is a great way to jazz up a traditional Sunday roast where the chicken is marinated in yoghurt and spices making it meltingly tender. The flavours here are really fantastic and really penetrate the flesh of the chicken. Try to by a free-range or organic chicken, as the flavour is always so much better. Continue reading »

This quiche uses a soft curd goat’s cheese, which is wonderfully smooth and light with clean lemony flavours with hints of flowers and sweetness that develop when pared with the caramelised red onions. Continue reading »

Some Sundays are made for roast dinners and some Sundays are made for snacking. As we strolled up Ranelagh, heading northwards, we were definitely in the mood for grazing and a cleverly positioned blackboard advertising an outdoors heated terrace at La Bodega proved the snare.

We’ve been to La Bodega several times and while I like the comfortably darkened interior with its mismatched seating, a summer Sunday evening felt more suitable to eating al fresco. Continue reading »

Midsummer … the woodland theatre at Kilruddery House’s 17th Century gardens. Could there be a more perfect setting for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? A light drizzle filtered through the woodland canopy and midges snacked on our ears as Titania and Oberon squabbled and Puck ran amok with a magic potion. Continue reading »

This was intended to be a general round-up of some recently-released Irish beers, but as I’ve put the notes together I’ve noticed an unfortunate theme linking them. Folks, we need to talk about yeast bite.
The first offender was the much-anticipated new one from N17, Summer Ale, brewed at Reel Deel in Mayo. Oddly, the dark-amber beer was perfectly clear but the yeast twang was unmistakeable: a big savoury earthy thing spreading itself indecently over everything else. Continue reading »

I took a sip of the new and as yet un-named beer in yesterday’s sunshine. And as it made its way on to my palate, my first reaction was to thank the lord, well to thank the lords and ladies of the Irish craft beer movement for bringing this and so many other beer beauties to our bars and homes. Continue reading »

Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo is a plush, uber luxurious Irish castle, dating back to 1228 and it provides a truly five star experience. Afternoon tea in this idyllic spot is something quite special and memorable indeed.

I visited with two friends for a girly catch up on a summery June afternoon. We parked in the beautiful nearby village of Cong, Co. Mayo and strolled through woodlands, past the river, where swans and cygnets could be seen, before the majestic castle came into sight. Continue reading »

“More apples, dammit!”
The Director of Product Strategy paused to chomp deeply on a Cox’s Orange Pippin.
“We’ve made whiskey that smells of apple. We’ve served it up with apple juice. We’re really close on this, people. We just need a touch more apple.”
…
That is how I imagine the challenge was laid out for the boffins at Tullamore Dew HQ last summer. The solution they came up with: the cider cask. Continue reading »

Hi.
It’s been awhile.
Lately I feel like my blog is taking a backseat to the easiness of Instagram where I have been documenting much of where our crazy country life circuitously takes us. Continue reading »

After she and Zeke got back from the market, Lula mixed them each a mojito, a splash of alcohol in Zeke’s, a healthy splash in her own, heavy on the sugar and the mint. Zeke sat on a kitchen stool and watched Lula make dinner. Most nights they ate pizza with frozen crust, tomato sauce from a jar, and mozzarella that, refrigerated, would outlive them both. Continue reading »

With this wonderful weather upon us and the whole of Ireland pulling out their BBQs to take advantage of the sunny afternoons, I thought that I’d give you a tip that will help turn your Barbecue into something really special!

The first thing to note is that you should not coat your meat (any type) with your Barbecue sauce until it is almost finished cooking. Continue reading »

It was as cold a May as I can recall – except, perhaps, for that time during my college days when, on a day early in May, the theory of lolling around on warm grass was replaced by the practice of scurrying to avoid a brief, freak snow flurry. And though this year’s May might not have been snow-cold, it was, for most of its length, nippy nonetheless. Continue reading »

Sponsored Posts

Pairing great wine with great holiday food is what CuriousWines.ie’s Cracking Christmas Case is all about, hand-picked favourites including holiday classics and some of their best-selling wines of 2011 are all brought together in this glorious mixed case, complimenting Christmas fare from roasts to puddings in spectacular style.

Curious cases start at just €95.00 with free delivery, and this particular case of festive delight retails for a deeply discounted €115. Happily, we’ve got one to give away to a lucky winner at FoodFight.ie. – all you need to do to enter is tell us in the comments below what you’ll be cooking up for Christmas dinner this year, and we’ll pick a winner from the entries on December 16th. (And if you don’t win and still want to grab yourself a holiday bargain, last orders for Christmas dispatch are December 20th!)

Every cook we know loves their iPad (or lusts after one) for clipping, reading and cooking from online recipes right in the kitchen. Well, Clickcase.ie has what may be the ultimate kitchen gadget for iPad lovers: the Speck Handyshell slots around your iPad 2 so it can be hung from any rack, drawer or cabinet knob, keeping your iPad at eye level and safe from spills and mess. Genius!

Clickcase, Irish retailer of brilliant iPad and iPhone accessories, is giving one crimble red Handyshell away to a FoodFight.ie reader just in time for Christmas. To enter, all you have to do is head over to the Clickcase Facebook page before December 8th and tell us why you love your iPad or iPhone in the kitchen!

This November The Great Irish Bake is back and Kitchen Hero Donal Skehan is helping out with sharing recipes and promoting the event. The Great Irish Bake is in aid of helping sick and seriously ill children get the treatment they need. Head over to The Great Irish Bake to register online and be in the chance of winning a trip to New York when you help raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. The site also has hints, tips, recipes and all that goes with an event like this.

This is the Facebook for The Great Irish Bake and of course the Twitter hashtag is: #thegreatirishbake

The Great Irish Bake organisers have shared a recipe with us and also a picture of Donal Skehan with his kids from his first marriage. Some of this might be a lie.

The Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a standalone mixture beat together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and
mix through.
3. Using a wooden spoon mix through the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice
and vanilla extract until you have a biscuit dough.
4. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm in thickness.
5. Cut out biscuit shapes, place on the lined baking tray, then using a smaller cutter
or a small knife cut out the center of each cookie.
6. Sprinkle the crushed sweets into the centre of the cookie and place in the oven
7. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire
wrack.

About FoodFight.ie

FoodFight.ie aggregates all the tastiest content from around the Irish blogosphere. We also feature original content written by some of Ireland's top food bloggers.